When We Fall
by LifeIsGoode
Summary: Once you say goodbye they have changed. For the better or the worse. They won't be the same person they were when they left.
1. Chapter 1

I slowly made my way into the kitchen to get a cup of tea.

Guilt flooded my stomach and I got a sharp pain deep in my gut.

I don't even know why I even read those old emails. Like most things from my old life, it didn't matter anymore. I should have known that they would guilt trip me. They must have decided that it might get me to come home.

The only problem with that plan was I wasn't planning on coming home anytime soon.

But I had to hand it to them, still looking for me after 4 years, that is what I call persistence. Now that doesn't mean I found it anything but deeply annoying.

Don't get me wrong, I still love my old roommates. But for geniuses, you would think that they would have figured out when someone doesn't want to be found by now. Plus, adding on to the aforementioned fact, I am the Chameleon and when the Chameleon doesn't want to be found, she's not. They would know that better than anyone.

I felt a soothing burning sensation sliding down my throat as I took a long sip of my tea.

'What if they find me?' I thought.

That thought was always at the back of my brain. Unanswered, along with many other questions that haunted me. I quickly shook the thought from my head. They couldn't find me. If they found me I couldn't protect them from what was inevitable to avoid.

That's why I couldn't come home.

They didn't understand and still don't understand what I go through to keep them safe.

Obviously, I am not feeling bad for myself like a damsel in distress.

I prefer hero in heels.

I think that title suits me better.

I pondered the subject for a while longer until I finished my tea. I glanced up at the clock on my microwave. It was 12:18am and I had work tomorrow, so I put my mug in the sink, grabbed my computer, and walked to my bedroom. I followed my usual nighttime routine of pajamas, brush teeth, hair, and reading until I fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Waking up every morning is absolute torture, and I am under no circumstances a morning person. So when my alarm clock repeatedly made this annoying sound in attempt to wake me from my peaceful sleep, I growled.

Using all the force I could muster, I slammed my hand down on the snooze button. I lay in bed for another minute thinking.

'What if I just call in sick today?' I procrastinated.

I stood and walked to my shower knowing that I could not miss work today.

Turning the knob on my shower, I felt cold water pelt my skin that was gradually getting warmer.

I undressed and stepped inside as soon as the water felt hot enough.

'Today's going to be fun.' I thought and got ready for my day.

* * *

"Good morning Miss Jenkins."

"Good morning Kendall, how was your weekend?" I greeted one of my students.

"Good," She said looking bored.

"Do anything fun?" I asked sipping my latte.

"Yeah, I went to the movies." She said smiling a little back at the memory.

"Very fun," I said just as the tardy bell rang.

I took attendance and handed out a quick 15 question math worksheet.

I was responding to a concerned parents email when the phone rang. I picked up the phone and answered, when I heard a familiar voice on the line.

"Good morning Miss Jenkins." The vice principal, Linda James, said.

"Good morning Linda, how are you?" I asked wondering what I could have done wrong.

"Great, look I'm sorry to inform you so late, but tomorrow you are getting a new student." She said getting to the point.

"Ok who is this student?" I asked getting a pen to write down their name.

"Her name is Grace Lyons."

"Ok, is she here now?" I asked; I had a feeling.

"Yes with her parents, they were wondering if they could meet some of her teachers and you're her homeroom." She said and I could hear some papers shuffling around.

"I'm always here." I said getting a little irritated but not letting it show through my voice.

"I'll send them down now. Thanks Katie." She said and hung up.

I took a breath before standing and getting my students attention.

"Excuse me, everybody I just got informed that there will be a new addition to our sophomore class. Her name is Grace Lyons and she is going to be here any minute. I want you all on your best behavior." I said sternly and sat back down at my desk. I couldn't help but notice how familiar Lyons sounded on my tongue.

Before I could think about it too much, I heard 3 different sets of footsteps approach my door. The door opened and a petite girl with light brown hair and brown eyes came in. She was wearing dark denim jeans and a yellow sweater. A dark haired, hazel eyed, woman in a cream colored pencil skirt and white blouse followed behind her. She stood behind her daughter. The last person to come into the room was a tall man with light brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a green and blue flannel and dark wash jeans. Everyone in the group was very attractive and looked like this was purely business, even Grace.

I stood to meet them. I put on my overly perky smile and stuck my hand out to shake their hands. The mother was the first to come forward. She looked vaguely familiar.

"Hi, I'm Charisa Lyons, Graces mother." She said smiling.

I shook the fathers hand next,

"Hello, I'm Jacob Lyons, Graces father." He said not nearly as enthusiastic as his wife.

"Hey, I'm Grace." Grace said with a little wave.

"Nice to meet you all," I said smiling and nodding, "I'm Katie Jenkins. I will be Grace's homeroom teacher."

I talked to Grace's parents about Grace, what I was going to be teaching this year, blah blah blah, blah blah blah. You know the drill. We talked till about 10 minutes before the end of 1st period. I said goodbye to the Lyons family and directed them to Grace's next teacher, Mr. Pearson.

Grace, unlike most of the sophomores here, seemed more observant. More private. She sort of kept to herself.

I was definitely intrigued by this girl and I wanted to know more.

* * *

Later on that night, I had hacked into the CIA database just like Liz taught me back in 9th grade. I typed in the name 'Lyons' and a long list of people came up. I scrolled through all 98 pages worth of people that had the first or last name Lyons and found nothing that sounded, or looked familiar to me.

As it was nearing 11:30 I decided it was time to go to bed. I climbed under my covers and thought about the Lyons family, and where I might have heard the name before. As seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into an hour, I made a decision that I could worry about it tomorrow instead of racking my brain tonight. I turned off my lamp and fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

 **A/N:** Give it a try. You might surprise yourself. Who knows, maybe you might love this story? Leave a review and tell me what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

I was taking attendance when she walked in.

"Grace, how nice of you to join us." I said smiling. I waved her over and she walked timidly towards me.

"So Grace after the morning announcements would you like to introduce yourself and where you're from?" I asked her; making sure she was comfortable. I didn't want to push her.

She nodded and gave a small smile.

After announcements were over I nodded at Grace, who, was still standing by my desk.

"Let's give our new student Grace all of our attention, please." I looked at my class sharply and turned my attention to Grace. Still, being the 'spy' I was, I kept my focus on everything around me, Mr. Solomon's advice at the back of my brain. Notice everything.

"Well, my name is Grace Lyons, I'm from Roseville Virginia, and I went to The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women." she said smiling awkwardly.

I swallowed hard, thoughts raced through my brain.

Would she remember me?

Did she know who I was?

No, Cammie, stop overthinking, you are in disguise. She can't remember you. Nobody remembers you.

"Well Grace we are happy that you came to our school," I said placing my hands on my desk and standing slowly. I searched the room for an extra seat. "Grace you will be sitting by Melanie, Melanie raise your hand please." But before Melanie could even raise her hand Grace was making her way over.

I smiled inwardly, she really did her research.

I gave them a math assignment to work on. They were in their sophomore year and they were finishing up Algebra. I finished up Algebra in 7th grade, but I didn't go to the average school.

Grace finished up the paper pretty quickly and started reading when she was finished. When I saw that everyone was finished, I passed out another paper about the upcoming sophomore trip. I didn't know much about the trip except that I was going. Apparently, the new teacher has to go because of 'tradition' or something. I'm not that excited but it would help me with getting to know more about Grace.

If Solomon taught her well, she would have her walls built up by now, but Solomon taught me well too. I know how to manipulate those walls.

I just have to appear trust worthy enough for a piece of information to slip. It shouldn't be that hard.

Believe me when I say that I've been through worse.

Way worse.

I like a little bit of challenge sometimes.

I've heard it's healthy for you.

I retreated to my desk and let the talk amongst themselves till the end of class, which was over in 4 minutes 36 seconds in case you were wondering.

I looked down at the trip flyers that were all the rage with the sophomores. I quickly scanned the page until I realized where we were going.

Washington D.C.

We were going to Virginia.

Where everything I've ever known is.

My mom, my school, my sisterhood.

I quickly did the calculations in my head of me seeing one of them. Then, I stopped myself. Fate had never been on my side so it was going to be hard to avoid them. They won't recognize my disguise; they probably think I'm dead. They probably think I abandoned them. They probably hate me, and I don't blame them. If I had been left, I would hate me too.

The bell rang and I dismissed my class.

'Only 6 more classes to go Cam.' I told myself encouragingly.

* * *

When I get home I'm exhausted. But, I ignore my brains pleads of slumber and get ready to go to my neighbors dinner party.

When I finish getting ready I head down to their house, which is 3 doors down.

Paige and Kyle Friar greet me at their front door with warm, inviting smiles.

"Katie, come in, come inside." Paige said ushering me in.

They lead me to their living room, which has a couple of our other neighbors occupying it. I glance around the room before seeing Rachel and her husband Cale. Rachel lives right next door to me and has been very welcoming ever since I moved here. I find myself turning and walking in their direction.

Rachel reminds me most of Liz because she's so sweet and caring. She even helped me move in. Even though I have only been here for a few months I can tell we are going to get close.

"Rachel," I said and embraced the brunette in a hug.

"Katie," she said returning the gesture.

"How have you guys been?" I asked turning to face the couple.

"Great, what about you Katie?" Rachel asked smiling.

"Oh, just fine. So Cale how's work?" I asked trying to strike up a conversation.

Cale was the owner of a big time construction industry that was worth millions. It supported the both of them but Rachel insisted on working. Rachel owned an ice cream parlor that was 60's themed. They had enough money to buy a bigger house, but they were very down to Earth people. That's why I loved this couple so much.

"Business is doing great as per usual." Cale said with a warm smile.

"Good, good," I said looking over Paige who was raising a glass about to make an announcement.

"Everyone," Paige glanced around the room, "Dinner is served." And with a smile she turned and we followed her to the dining room.

I sat down in the chair next to Rachel and we began to eat, until my phone started ringing. It was an unknown number. Instead of taking the call I turned my ringer off and continued eating.

* * *

At the end of the night I had met some new people, made some new friends, and got a little bit tipsy.

As I was leaving Paige's house I checked my phone to realize that the unknown number had left a voicemail. I thought nothing of it given the drunk, tired state I was in, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, with the full knowledge that I would I have a slight hangover in the morning.

Thank God for Saturdays.

* * *

 **A/N:** This chapter was kind of boring, and the next chapter might have a time skip so pay attention to the date. Anyways R &R and tell me what your thinking.


	3. Chapter 3

3 weeks later…

I was packing my suitcase for D.C. when I heard a knock at my door. I furrowed my eyebrows, I wasn't expecting anyone, but went to open the door nonetheless. I hurriedly walked to the door and opened it revealing one of my students. Grace Lyons to be specific.

"Hello, Miss Lyons, come inside." I said opening the door wider for her to enter.

"Good afternoon Miss Jenkins, I have a very important matter to discuss with you." She said looking at me shyly.

"Come with me and we can talk." I said and led her to my kitchen table. I sat down and she sat across from me.

"Whenever you're ready, I'm here to listen." I said reassuringly.

"Oh well, Miss Jenkins-"She started but I cut her off.

"Please, call me Katie here." I said trying to make her more comfortable.

"Oh, okay, well then Katie, when I left Virginia and moved here, I left a problem back at my old school. I know I'm going to run into someone I used to know, because, you might find this stupid but, fate is never really on my side, and I have this gut feeling that what I don't want to happen is going to happen." She finished looking at me desperately with her brown eyes.

'Always trust your gut.' Is what I wanted to say, but I'm not the same person I used to be.

"Well, believe it or not, I have experienced something very similar," I said knowingly, "And I did run into the problem I used to have, and the thing about this, is that you can't do anything about it. Just go with the flow and make the best out of seeing the 'problem' again. And chances are you might not even see them. The problem I had was a boy," I said thinking back to the day when I was doing brush passes and I saw Josh and Dee Dee and they saw me with… Zach, "And that day I ran into him after I had recently broken up with him. Talk about awkward, but everything always turns out okay in the end."

I thought about how wrong the words I just said were. The truth was that, not everyone has a happy ending, not everyone gets their happily ever after, and not everything ends well, but I couldn't say that, even if it was the truth, it wasn't right to fill her with doubt. It wasn't right to fill someone with so much hope and potential with doubt. So I ended the way all fairy tales did, with a happy ending.

She pondered my response for a second before nodding slowly.

"I guess you're probably right, you always are." She said smiling; but doubt still clouded her eyes.

"Now is there anything else important you would like to discuss?" I asked her hesitantly.

She shook her head and stood to leave.

"You don't have to leave now," I said standing, "I could fetch us some snacks and we could talk about today's economic troubles." I said with a wary smile.

"That would be great I'm in the mood for an intellectual conversation." Grace said; all doubt was replaced with pure happiness. I remember back at Gallagher when Mr. Smith would teach us about the economic troubles in each country with a different face each time he came back from break.

"How about we drink some warm, mint tea and sugar cookies while discussing the new environmental pros and cons in Kenya?" Not really looking for an answer.

She giggled and nodded in response.

After I finished making tea and we were sat down with some sugar cookies I began the conversation, "So any particular place you would like to start?"

* * *

It was about 1:30 when Grace got here (1:28 and 12 seconds to be exact), and she left at around 3:00 (2:56 and 48 seconds to be exact), so she was here for about an hour and a half (1 hour and 28 minutes and 36 seconds) talking about the economy in different countries and what tolls it was taking on the environment. For a sophomore, she sure is the conversationalist. I bet she was on the R&D Track back at Gallagher. She is very smart and excels in every subject, even PE; I bet that's exactly how my mom wanted it. I wouldn't be surprised if she was as smart as Liz when she was this age.

Liz, I sure do miss her, but it's for the best, and if I have to make little sacrifices like this for her safety, so be it.

Moving on from my past, I need to finish packing for D.C. The trip is only tomorrow and I won't have enough time to pack in the morning and get ready for school, so I will pack now.

Soon enough I am finished packing it is time to hit the hay (that's a phrase Grandpa Morgon uses that means it's time to go to bed).

So I hop into bed and fall into a deep sleep, wondering about the next day's upcoming events.

* * *

"Okay, everybody please get into a single-file line in alphabetical order before we get to the buses." I said and started to call the order while checking role at the same time.

After everyone knew where they were supposed to be and everything was in order, I led my homeroom to the buses. By the time we made it to the bus, everyone was in groups talking to each other. I didn't really mind, they were about to be on a bus for 4 hours to D.C. so I let them talk. I counted my students one last time before they boarded the bus and climbed on behind them.

Taking one look at all of them made me want to cringe. Terrorists? Sure. Advanced weaponry? Totally. Hormonal teenagers on 1 bus for 4 straight hours? I hope so…

Wish me luck...

* * *

 **A/N:** I am proud to present chapter 3 to you all! I wanted to give you a little taste of Grace and Cammie's relationship and start the D.C. adventure, so I did it all in one chapter. It was kind of short and I'm not the that proud of it but oh well. Review please, I love your feedback, good or bad!


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